Rail structure for a garage door



April 1957 w. A. SMITH RAIL STRUCTURE FOR A GARAGE DOOR Filed July 26,1955 IGN INVENTOR. W554: y /7. 5/1/ 771 a ORME'J U d States Patent RAILSTRUCTURE FOR A GARAGE nooR Wesley A. Smith, Detroit, Mich., assignor toTilt-A- Door Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of MichiganApplication July 26, 1955', Serial No. 524,468

2 Claims. or. 20-69) It is desirablethat canopy-type-garage doors bedesigned for shipment in knocked-down condition, for reasons of savingsin shipping charges. However, in order to benefit from the economy ofshipping the doors knocked-down, it is necessary that the assemblyprocedures be so simple and fool-proof that the doors can be assembledby unskilled labor at the point of distribution or use. In particular, asubstantial increase in the market for this type of door is possiblewhere the door is of such simplicity that the purchaser can assemble thedoor himself.

In developing a garage door which can be easily assembled, the:construction of a suitable bottom rail structure for the door hasinvolved problems of considerable magnitude because this portion of thedoor receives harsh treatment in normal use. In addition, the bottomrail must be provided with a weather strip which desirably is easily andquickly attachable. Prior to my invention no satisfactory constructionfor this portion of the door capable of meeting all of the aboverequirements was known to exist.

Accordingly, a primary object of this invention is the provision of abottom rail structure for a canopy-type, garage door, which structure issturdy, attractive and can be easily assembled by unskilled labor withsimple instructions and without special tools.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a bottom railstructure for a garage door, as aforesaid, which can be shipped in acompletely knocked-down condition and assembled without difliculty atthe site of its use or distribution.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a bottom railstructure, as aforesaid, wherein no welding, riveting, flanging or othertype of complicated metal working is required at the assembly site forsecuring the door panels to the bottom rail.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a bottom railstructure, as aforesaid, including a weather strip which not only servesto seal the space between the rail and the door sill, but also seals andlocks the connection between the bottom rail and the panels engagedthereby.

Other objects and purposes of this invention will become apparent topersons acquainted with this type of equipment upon reading of thefollowing specification and examining the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

Figure l is a fra mentary front elevation view of a garage doorembodying my bottom rail structure.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary, oblique view of said bottom rail structurewith portions thereof broken away.

In meeting those objects and purposes set forth above, as well as othersrelated thereto, I have provided an edge or rail structure including arail member 11 and the adjacent portion of a closure panel 12. The railmember 11 is comprised of an edge element 13 having a U-shapedcross-section for the purpose of gripping a portion of said closurepanel 12 along one edge thereof. Said rail member 11 also has a sideplate 14 which is integral with and extends away from said edge element.Aweather strip 15 has one edge thereof inserted into said edge element13 where it serves as a sealing device between the closure panel 12 andthe rail member 11, in addition to its normal purpose of sealing thespace between the rail member and the adjacent portion of the doorframe.

For the purposes of convenience in description, the terms upper, lowerand derivatives thereof will have reference to the structure asappearing in Figures 1 and 2. The terms front and rear will referrespectively to the right and left sides of the structure appearing inFigure 2. The terms inwardly, outwardly and derivatives thereof relateto the geometric center of the closure device and parts thereof.

Detailed description As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the rail member 11,which may be fabricated in a conventional manner from suitable sheetmaterial such as aluminum, has an elongated edge element 13 with asubstantially U-shaped crosssection opening downwardly, or outwardlywith respect to the geometric center of the closure device 16 (Figure1). In this particular embodiment, the front and rear flanges 17 and 18,respectively, of the edge element 13 converge slightly toward each otherat their outer free ends 19 and 20, respectively. The side plate 14 isintegral along one edge thereof with the free edge 20 of the rear flange18 and extends rearwardly therefrom and preferably perpendicularthereto. Thus, the side plate 14 and front flange 17 are on oppositesides of the rear flange 18. A strengthening element 23 is integral withand extends along the length of the side plate 14 adjacent to itsrearward edge.

The closure panel 12 is provided with a portion 24 extending along thelower edge thereof which is folded back upon itself to define a planesubstantially parallel with the remainder of the closure panel 12. Thisfolded portion, which is slightly shorter in length than the frontflange 17 is disposed between said flanges 17 and 18 so that the closurepanel 12 embraces the front flange 17. This engagement between theclosure panel 12 and the edge element 13 is primarily held by the endconnections between the rail member 11 and the stile member 25 shown inbroken lines in Figure 2. The specific connecting means between the railmember 11 and the stile member 25 may be of any convenient, conventionalkind such, for example, as is shown in Figure 2, wherein a flange 22extending upwardly from the side plate 14 is secured to stile member 25by bolt 26.

The weather strip 15 (Figures 2 and 3) may be of any convenientmaterial, such as extruded rubber or rubber impregnated cloth, so thatit is both flexible and resilient. The weather strip 15 is provided witha sidewardly extending bead 27 adjacent to one lengthwise edge thereof.The bead is disposed between the free edge 28 of the folded portion 24of the closure panel 12 and the web 29 of the edge element 13. Thus, thefolded portion 24 serves to retain the weather strip 15 within the edgeelement 13 while said weather strip serves to seal the connectionbetween the edge element and said closure panel. The weather strip 15extends downwardly from the lower edge of the rail member 11 forengagement with door sill 31 as shown in broken lines in.Figure 2.

As shown in Figure 2, the folded'portion 24 of the 3 panel 12' may be'disposedat a slight diverging angle with the remainder of said panel '12so that the upper free edge 28 of said folded portion 24 will tend topress the weather strip against the rear flange 18. It will berecognized that the structure disclosed herein, although specificallydescribed as abottom rail structure, itmay under some circumstances 'beadvantageously employed as "a stile or side edge structure or even as atop rail structure.

Operation If, as intended, the structure to which this invention relatesis shipped in knocked-down position, it must be assembled before it canbe used. In such case, the beaded upper edgeZi of the weather strip 15is inserted into the edge element 13 between the flanges thereof so thatthe head 27 extends forwardly. The folded portion 24 of the panel 12,which is preformed, is then inserted into said edge element 13 on theforwardside of the weather strip 15 so that the head 27 is held snuglyand firmly between the free edge 28 of the folded portion 24 and the web29 of the edge element 13. The flange 22 on rail member 11 is thensecured as by means of the bolt 26 at its opposite ends to thecorresponding ends of suitable stile members 25. The rail structure 10now having been assembled is in condition for sturdy and completelysatisfactory operation as a part of the closure device 16.

Although a particular, preferred embodiment of my invention has beendescribed above for illustrative purposes only it will be understoodthat modifications or variations thereof which lie within the scope ofsuch invention are fully contemplated unless specifically stated to thecontrary in the appended claims.

I claim:

I. In a closure device, an edge structure comprising: a panel of sheetmaterial having a portion along one edge thereof folded back to define aplane substantially parallel with and spaced from said panel; an edgeelement having a portion of U-shapedcross-section including a pair ofsubstantially parallel flanges and a connecting web, one flange beingdisposed between said, panel and said folded portion; a side plateintegral along one edge with the free edge "oftheother flange andextending away therefrom on the opposite side from said one flange; and

a resilient sealing strip snugly inserted along one edge thereof betweensaid other flange and the folded portion of said panel, said striphaving a bead along said one edge disposed snugly between the free edgeof said folded portion and the web connecting said flanges.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said flanges converge toward eachother at'their free edges.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSl;527,7 39 Leach Feb. 24, 1925 2,037,369 Eager et al Apr. 14, 1936

